Friday, December 28, 2007

Big Adventure in Budapest

I left with Ryan after breakfast promising him a BIG adventure. Little did I know how BIG! We went to find a Christian book store near the center of Budapest. Since parking in the center of the city is a challenge, we took bus 40 then tram 6. The adventure started when 3 buses passed us before we could get to the bus stop. After a long wait we loaded up. Finding a free seat I deposited Ryan and tried to keep him from falling on his head while reaching the nearest ticket punch. The driver seemed to be racing the clock and staying on my feet wasn’t easy. Seeing my dilemma an old man offered to hold Ryan from flopping out of the chair while I searched the bus for a ticket punch that worked. No luck. Ryan was excited to be on a big bus, to see the world flashing by.

Reaching the end of the line we began searching for our tram. Ryan wanted to take each tram, not caring where it went. As it turns out his guess was better than mine. We took tram #6 and settled in. There were only 2 or 3 people so we sat near the front. After half an hour and not hearing any familiar names my doubts began to grow. The conductor announced something several times in Hungarian. We were waiting to hear Blaha Lujza ter. Can you believe they named a square Blessed Luiza? I checked the map and it looked like this tram should go where we need to. Finally I tried to ask the conductor. His answer? “Nem, Nem” and he opened the door and told me to exit. The tram was empty. We were deep in an industrial section with no pedestrians in sight and no street names. He was taking the tram to the garage to put it out of service. Ryan took one look at the situation and said “horsey”. He wanted a ride. The only horse around was me. (The photo is from October, but you get the idea.)

So horsey took a 36 pound Ryan back the way we came. After 30 minutes we found civilization and street names. Now I could at least tell someone where I was, but Dennis had no idea how to help and no map. At the tram stop nobody spoke English or offered to help. So I jumped in the first tram to at least get warm. Inside the door are two lists of stops depending on your direction. Good. One starts with Blaha Lujza, the other ends there. Now which direction are we going? I feel like a cat looking at a calendar. With sign language I ask an older man “Blaha Lujza?” He didn’t know, but asked others in Hungarian. The answer? “Harom” with 3 fingers for 3 stops. Finally at Blaha Lujza I get off and find again tram #6 and get on. We found the store. Normally shopping with Ryan is a challenge, but this time he found a place to sit and sat. On the way home he fell asleep on the warm bus and somehow horsey got him home.